Smart City Forum in Wroclaw. The Man of the Year statuette was awarded.

This year the Smart City Forum is being held for the sixteenth time, and the second time in Wroclaw. It is the most important congress in Poland dedicated to the functioning and development of smart cities. It began on Wednesday, May 31, at The Bridge Wrocław MGallery, a hotel located on the historic grounds of Ostrow Tumski.

They discussed the situation of local governments and modernizing cities

The congress opened with an opening debate by the mayors of Lublin, Slupsk, Sopot, Kielce and Wroclaw. The presidents debated, among other things, the economic situation from the perspective of local governments, the sharing economy and countering regional debt and inequality, as well as how their cities are building smart city strategies.

The most important pillar of all the "smart projects" of our "smart Wroclaw" were, are and will remain residents. Because it is the people who create a living "Smart Wroclaw", where technological smart projects can and should be initiated.

Jacek Sutryk, Mayor of Wroclaw

The mayor of Mariupol a special guest of the event

Another important theme during the first day of the Smart City Forum was the speech given by Vadym Boichenko, mayor of Mariupol, who shared his plans for rebuilding Ukrainian cities devastated by the Russian onslaught. He also spoke about related innovations in technology and smart challenges that Mariupol and other Ukrainian localities now face. Similar issues also emerged during the debate Open Data - Fuel for the Development of Modern Cities, at which Oleg Polovynko, Director of Information Technology in Kyiv, among others, spoke.

The first day of the 16th Smart City Forum ended with the Grand Gala at The Bridge Wroclaw MGallery.

During the gala, the best are recognized and congratulated. Smart City Forum is an excellent opportunity for meetings, exchange of experience and good practices between local governments and the business community.

Jakub Mazur, Deputy Mayor of Wroclaw

During the evening, the Smart City Awards Chapter awarded personalities and undertakings that have significantly contributed to the promotion of solutions to build smart cities in Poland, as well as cities implementing this idea. Awards were given to both representatives of the business sector and local administration, who, through the projects implemented, using innovative solutions and management strategies, have contributed to increasing the competitiveness of Polish cities, economy and business.

The best innovators were awarded

The Smart City Award statuettes were presented in seven categories:

In the Smart City Solution category, the awards went to InPost, for its network of sensors for monitoring and analyzing air quality, and Sprint for its 4PARK system, which monitors parking space occupancy.
In the Smart City Solution category, Signify won for its Interact City system, which enables remote management of lighting infrastructure
In the category Solution Provider for the Sector, two statuettes were awarded to T-mobile Poland, for its advanced control of the heating node and monitoring that allows detection of failures and shortcomings in the operation of individual devices and optimization of the operation of the transmission network, and Farada Group for its effective logistics
In the Smart City up to 30 thousand inhabitants category, Ladek Zdroj and Orange Polska were awarded for intelligent solutions introduced in almost all aspects of the city's functioning, increasing the comfort of residents and tourists, with concern for ecology and safety
In the Smart City category from 30 thousand to 100 thousand residents, the award went to the city of Sopot for the construction of an urban space management system for trees using remote sensing and AI
In the Smart City category from 100 thousand to 300 thousand residents, the award went to Kielce for its consistent, long-term efforts in the area of implementing innovative solutions
In the Smart City over 300 thousand residents category, the statuette was awarded to Poznan for its successive implementation of the Smart City Model and, among other things, the Smart City Poznan urban application, the pillar of which is communication on the city-resident-city line.

Watch us. Soon our municipality will be energy self-sufficient, with heat and electricity coming from renewable energy sources. I hope we will be a model for others, especially the smallest local governments.

Roman Kaczmarczyk, mayor of Ladek Zdroj municipality

Mayor of Lublin Man of the Year

The most important category of the evening was Man of the Year. It was awarded to the mayor of Lublin, Krzysztof Zuk, who was recognized for his many years of activities aimed at the dynamic development of the city, as well as his bold decisions and innovative approach in management, which makes Lublin today a friendly place, fully reflecting the idea of sustainable development.

Thanks to intensive work for the benefit of Lublin, today our city is a recognizable brand and one of the fastest growing places in Poland. A city that is open and good to live in. Over the past dozen years together, we have made up for it by implementing the largest investments in the city's history for more than PLN 5 billion. In all activities, we try to involve residents and citizens with whom we are jointly building the Lublin of the future and who are the recipients of our activities. There are still many challenges ahead of us, so I treat the award I received as a commitment for the future.

Krzysztof Zuk, Mayor of Lublin

A piece of bridge in Kiev for the mayor of Wroclaw

Mayor Jacek Sutryk, in turn, was recognized for his work on behalf of Ukraine and for city partnership. A piece of the bridge in Kiev was awarded.

We help as much as we can. Every fourth resident of our city comes from Ukraine. Kiev is our partner city. How could we behave otherwise.

Jacek Sutryk

The gala's partners were Signify and Limitless Technologies.

The Smart City Forum has been held since 2014, including 2022 in Wroclaw, and will remain in the capital of Lower Silesia for years to come.